Belfast west

Bryson – Mulvenna

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In memory of [IRA] volunteers Jim Bryson and Patrick Mulvenna. Died on active service 1973.” The pair were killed by undercover British Army soldiers firing from above the Ballymurphy shops (Broken Elbow). Mulvenna died immediately (August 30th), Bryson three days later.

This is a repainted version of a 2001 mural, the first of the works in the Ballymurphy Mural Project. This appears to be in-progress: a black border and a central plaque were added later.

Ballymurphy Road, Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Paddy Duffy
T00381

Cumann Na mBan

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Volunteers in Cumann Na mBan (or youth wing Cumann Na gCaılíní) from Ballymurphy and Springhill are remembered in a mural in Ballymurphy Road, Belfast. Anti-clockwise, they are Maura Meehan, Anne Marie Pettigrew, Dorothy Maguire, Eileen Mackin, Catherine (Cathy) McGartland, Anne Parker. All but Mackin are included in the Greater Ballymurphy plaque.

This is the third mural painted as part of the Ballymurphy Mural Project.

The figure on the right comes from a poster for International Women’s Day, 1982, (CAIN). It includes the words, “This is not a man’s war but a people’s war, and very, very much suffering has been borne by the women, be they mothers, wives, political activists or Volunteers, and the men ought to remember that without the sacrifice of women there would be no struggle at all.”

Ballymurphy Road, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2008 Paddy Duffy
T00380

The Death Of Innocence

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The mural to the first child killed in the Troubles, Annette McGavigan, entitled The Death Of Innocence, was repainted by the Bogside Artists in 2006. On account of the success of the peace process and IRA decommissioning of weapons, the rifle on the left is broken.

See also the Visual History page on The People’s Gallery.

Lecky Road, Derry

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2007 Paddy Duffy
T00408

Kieran Doherty

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Kieran Doherty was elected TD (Teachta Dála) for Cavan-Monaghan three weeks into his 1981 hunger strike. He held the position for two months, until he died on August 2nd. The portraits, plaques, and mural of marchers are in his home area of Andersonstown. The words “It is not those who inflict the most, but those that can endure who shall conquer in the end” is an echo of Terence MacSwiney, whose hunger strike in 1920 lasted 74 days, one more than Doherty’s.

The chimney retains the “150” from the previous mural about the Great Hunger.

Painted by Lucas Quigley in Slemish Way, Andersonstown, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2001 Paddy Duffy
T00491

Never Again!

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

In August, 1969, families, mostly Catholic, were driven out and their homes burned in Bombay Street (and surrounding streets), between the Falls and Shankill (RTÉ news report). The defenselessness of the community then is reflected in the urging for “No decommission” in the present. Fıan Gerard McAuley (aged 15) was shot in nearby Waterville Street.

Bombay Street, Clonard, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00342

WDA 2nd Batt B Coy UFF

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) was the largest of the local associations which merged together in 1971 to form the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the WDA became B company of 2nd battalion (WP).

Both pieces are in Heather Street, Woodvale, west Belfast. Between the two are the words “Ulster Freedom Fighters” in large letters – see D00967.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00451 T00450

Shankill Eddie

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A Visual History page details the various appearances of Eddie The Head in his guise as a Red Coat soldier-cum-UDA volunteers. In this Shankill Eddie, he carries an assault rifle and an Ulster Banner as he marches over the graves of “E[ddie] Copeland”, “S[ean] Kelly”, and “S[tephen] Larkin”. The three are IRA volunteers: Kelly, along with Thomas Begley, bombed Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road in 1993 – Kelly survived; Copeland was injured during an attack on Begley’s wake; Larkin made an attempt on the life of Johnny Adair in 1993.

There is also a Visual History page for the murals painted in the era of Johnny Adair’s C company, of which this is one.

Hopewell Crescent, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01178

King Rat

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Loyalist martyr King Rat 1960-1997”. Billy Wright broke with the UVF over the ceasefire in 1994 and after being expelled (and the Mid-Ulster brigade disbanded) in the summer of 1996, formed the LVF (WP). Wright was killed in the Maze in December 1987 by members of the INLA (neither the INLA or LVF were on ceasefire). Johnny Adair of the UDA’s west Belfast C company was an admirer and supported of Wright and this is one of the murals he had painted in the lower Shankill estate.

Hopewell Crescent, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01179

Spike Chases Adams

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Spike (the dog from Tom & Jerry) wears a Union Flag t-shirt and brandishes an assault rifle as he chases Sınn Féın’s Gerry Adams, wearing a Celtic top, out of Belfast and towards Dublin, in front of the UDA murals at (D00971) and behind (D00969) the KFC.

This is one of the murals painted in the era of Johnny Adair’s C company.

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01190